Portraits is also a toughy for me too, as my children also not happy to have the grandchildren on the internet, and the kids are not always wanting to pose. Below is something of how a trip to the beach went.
Grandson...... " come on nanny, help me with this sandcastle"
Me..... " Okay, just let me take a couple of photos first...come on big smile"
Grandson pulling a face.
Me...... "quickly come on let me just take a few photos and then i will build sandcastles."
Grandson pulls another face.
Me ....." One photo then ill play, please i will be real quick"
Grandson screws his face up, as the sun is in his eyes. On goes the cap, too shadowy, off comes the cap.
Grandson ......."Nanny you have taken a few, now please play"
Me "Just let me take a one more....move over to the right....turn your head, now le me take one more. Do not look at the camera, pretend im not here.One more, let me take one more"
Grandson " Nannyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy"come on,pleeeeeese.
We play, i build sandcastles, dig holes, carry water, chuck seaweed, and every so often out comes my camera. I have pictures of boats, windsurfers, swimmers, everything but an entry for this month.
My grandson thinks he has won.........I have 3 more weekends to go. sue

Great Orangutan shot Mirageii .. what a characterful face he has. I'm more of a candid portrait character myself, but living in a remote and thinly populated corner of the UK cramps my opportunities a bit when constrained by the 'this month' rule. We travelled to India recently and I spent quite a bit of time on the streets just trying to capture some interesting faces... all ineligible for this competition of course... some thumbnails below. I'm sure that we are all sitting on some great shots that we cannot use.

Regarding my rather silly submission this month ... glad it's given a few folks a giggle. I always reckon that the trick with humour is to set a low standard and then fail to achieve it!!

Mike

Last edited by mikeroch on Thu Aug 06, 2009 1:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

.My grandson thinks he has won.........I have 3 more weekends to go. sue

May I suggest a 300mm length and while they look to grandma for approval of whatever it is they are playing at you will get some great shots, I know its not Portrait in terms of traditional composition however children don't get it, and frankly neither do I unless its for arts sake which I applaud but have little interest in.

I have something of my son which I will post while he was skateboarding (you would not know it however). He thought I was taking pictures of his skating although I was much more interested in his intensity concentrating on what he was doing. I will put it up once I get back from vacation in New Orleans (might have a portrait for y'all).

Love Mike's take on the subject his comedic interpretation will more than likely best my best technical effort sigh!!.

Good luck all.. ..

Last edited by PaulJS on Thu Aug 06, 2009 4:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.